In recent years, there has been rapid development of new communication systems and methods of communicating. The early cellular phones were limited to analogue operation, communicated specifically over a cellular network and allowed for voice communication only. Later, digital operation was introduced and soon thereafter, the keypads were utilized to provide rudimentary text messaging. Modern wireless devices, including cell phones have sufficient bandwidth to enable the transfer of voice signals, image data, and even video streaming. In addition, most cell phones provide network access, such as Internet access through network interfaces such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth® and WiMax, for example. This allows the cell phones to communicate with other electronic devices.
Satellite communication and satellite phones have also undergone a transformation in recent years. The phones provide similar functionality to cellular phones including voice communication, short messaging service and low-bandwidth Internet access.
In truly mobile situations, such as in an aircraft, communication usually involves a satellite and a satellite network. Data are sent from the mobile location by an onboard satellite communication system. The satellite network may then communicate data to a base station directly, or, as is the case more recently, communicate data via the internet to the base station.
While these communication means are providing ever-expanding capabilities, they cannot always provide reliable communication. This is in part because of the bandwidth available, the size of the data being sent, and the reliability of the system to accurately transform the data. Another deficiency is the ability to meld the technologies together, so that a mobile device can interact with the onboard satellite communication system, thereby accessing satellite-based communications.
It is an object of the present technology to provide a peripheral device, system and method that can reliably and accurately control a satellite communication (satcom) device by sending commands to the device. The peripheral device additionally can transmit text and binary messages to the onboard satellite communication system and then to a recipient device or base station. It is a further objective to provide this service without the use of specific hardware keypads and screens that are purpose built but rather with a multifunctional peripheral device that is easy to use and has extensible protocols for command controls.